Monroe College, a national leader in urban and international education, today announced that it will host Godfrey Eneas, the Bahamas Ambassador to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and Dr. Vallierre Deleveaux, the Director of Marine Science at the Bahamas Agriculture and Marine Science Institute (BAMSI), to explore the possibility of an agricultural education partnership to professionalize farming in the Bahamas. Mr. Eneas and Dr. Deleveaux will visit the college’s New Rochelle campus on July 15.

As one of the highest per capita importers of food in the Caribbean, the Bahamas is seeking to boost agricultural production and strengthen its sustainable development and food security. Mr. Eneas and Dr. Deleveaux are looking to draw on the United States’ well-established farm-to-table movement, and will have the opportunity to dine within the college’s student-run restaurant, The Dining Lab, which features a selection of homemade meals prepared with locally sourced ingredients from the college’s own backyard.

During their visit, Mr. Eneas and Dr. Deleveaux will meet with Executive Vice President Marc Jerome and former Jamaican Consul General Geneive Brown Metzger, in addition to other executive members and administrators at the college. Their visit will also include a viewing of a student-produced video of Caribbean students’ experience at Monroe, and will conclude with a tour of the college’s New Rochelle campus.

“The Bahamas appears to be taking a lead in the agricultural industry within the Caribbean community, and a partnership with Monroe could be a beneficial model to the rest of the region,” said Dr. Geneive Brown Metzger, Monroe’s Director of Government Relations and Outreach in the Caribbean. “Our knowledge of the farm-to-table movement, specifically through our culinary arts program, coupled with Mr. Eneas and Dr. Deleveaux’s impressive background and expertise, makes for a rewarding professional relationship that could go a long way in addressing the widespread need for agricultural production in the Bahamas.”

Mr. Eneas became the Bahamas’ first Ambassador to the U.N.’s FAO in March 2013. He is a consultant to the Minister of Agriculture, chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Agriculture, and a commissioner of the Bahamas Trade Commission. He is the author of two books: Agriculture in The Bahamas: Its Historical Development (1492-1992) and The New Caribbean: A Region in Transition (September 2009).

Dr. Deleveaux was appointed Director of Marine Science at BAMSI in 2014. Previously, he was employed at the Department of Fisheries in the Bahamas in the marine research division. He is a marine biologist and research professional with leadership experience in research project management, data collection and analysis. He holds a B.S. from the University of the West Indies, and a M.S. in Marine Affairs and Policy and Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS).

Monroe College has a campus in the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia and is actively involved in the community. Last month, students from Monroe College’s School of Hospitality Management won the annual Caribbean Tourism Organization’s (CTO) Students Colloquium Championship for their tourism sustainability idea. Earlier this year, Monroe hosted a Caribbean Leadership Forum on crime reduction strategies, attended by the St. Lucia Prime Minister, senior police officials, criminal justice experts and other human services personnel from around the Caribbean. The school’s St. Lucia campus is home to approximately 300 students from St. Lucia and the surrounding Caribbean islands; another 200 students from the region attend the college’s NY campuses each year.

ABOUT MONROE COLLEGE

Founded in 1933, New York-based Monroe College is a nationally ranked private institution of higher learning with a real world learning approach that prioritizes hands-on academic experiences, practical and relevant academic programs, flexible learning schedules, best-in-class instructional technologies, and committed and engaged faculty to ensure that students are well positioned for career success upon graduation. Monroe College graduates more minority students than any other college in New York State.

Monroe College offers Certificate, Associate, Bachelor's, and Master's degree programs. It has campuses in the Bronx, New Rochelle, as well as in the Caribbean nation of St. Lucia, with programs offered through its Schools of Criminal Justice, Information Technology, Nursing, Education, Business & Accounting, Hospitality Management and Culinary Arts, and Allied Health Professions, as well as through its liberal arts and continuing education programs, and its King Graduate School. For more information and admissions criteria, please visit http://www.monroecollege.edu.